The LG V60 and VELVET Review: A Classic & A Design Restart
by Andrei Frumusanu on July 15, 2020 9:00 AM ESTCamera Recap
A few weeks ago, we’ve published an extensive article comparing this first half year’s main flagship devices cameras, including the LG V60. I would recommend reading that piece for a more extensive conclusion on the camera system of the V60.
Read Our Extensive Camera Evaluation For More Samples:
Mobile Flagship Phone Camera Overview 2020 H1: Still Picture Battle
[ V60 ]
[ OnePlus 8 ] - [ OnePlus 8 Pro ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ iPhone SE ] - [ Pixel 4 ]
[ Galaxy S20U(S) ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ Mate 30 Pro ] - [ P40 Pro ]
[ Reno3 Pro 5G ] - [ Reno3 Pro ]
[ X-T30 ]
In general LG has been able to showcase excellent results with the V60 in daylight photography, many times achieving amongst the best results in terms of detail thanks to the 64MP sensor that produces 16MP images.
LG’s HDR is pleasant and the phone has generally good colour reproduction.
[ V60 ]
[ OnePlus 8 ]
[ OnePlus 8 Pro ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ iPhone SE ] - [ P4 ]
[ Galaxy S20U(S) ]
[ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P40 Pro ]
[ Reno3 Pro 5G ]
[ Reno3 Pro ]
[ X-T30 ]
In terms of zooming, the lack of a telephoto module is compensated by the fact that the main camera is able to losslessly crop its 64MP images, although beyond 2-3x the results are not competitive with other phones with dedicated units.
The ultra-wide-angle module of the V60 is also good and amongst the top performers on the market.
[ V60 ]
[ OnePlus 8 ]
[ OnePlus 8 Pro ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ iPhone SE ] - [ Pixel 4 ]
[ Galaxy S20U(S) ]
[ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P40 Pro ]
[ Reno3 Pro 5G ]
[ Reno3 Pro ] - [ X-T30 ]
Low-light photography on the LG V60 is something solely depends on the amount of light available. In medium to lowish light the phone is able to perform fairly well, but the lack of a proper computational photography and night mode means that in darker scenarios the phone falls apart. It’s by far the biggest weak-point of the device when it comes to its camera system.
Read Our Extensive Camera Evaluation For More Samples:
Mobile Flagship Phone Camera Overview 2020 H1: Still Picture Battle
LG V60 vs LG Velvet
I haven’t had time to include the LG Velvet into a full camera comparison against the wider competition, however I did make some comparison shots against the V60 to be able to put the phone into context:
Overall, the Velvet’s camera results in terms of processing and composition is extremely similar to that of the V60, which is excellent news. Where the two phones differ is in terms of detail retention, and obviously the smaller and 48MP sensor of the Velvet here isn’t able to quite match the results of the V60.
There’s a slight dynamic range disadvantage for the Velvet, but nothing that you’d immediately pick up if you were to look at the images standalone. One more notable difference is that the colours on the Velvet are ever so slightly warmer, but again only noticeable in a few select scenarios when comparing the two phones against each other.
In general, the Velvet seems to have an excellent camera for a phone in this range, and I would say it easily beats some alternatives such as the mid-range OPPO phones, and has better processing than the OnePlus 8, with its biggest weakness again being low-light photography where the lack of a computational photography night mode is a big handicap.
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PeachNCream - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
Basically that Notebookcheck is better for comparing things to other things than Anandtech - which is true. If I want to kill time reading meandering articles about hardware I will never own, I read AT. If I want to research a product I actually do intend to buy, Notebookcheck is where I go first to get to the actual point.s.yu - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
Yup, with the exception that their battery tests are updated from time to time so you won't get apples to apples battery numbers between equivalent devices across generations, say S20 and S7, which was what psychobriggsy suggested.s.yu - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
lol, I don't get what you're not getting.ack68 - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
I received two v60's free from AT&T when we switched from Sprint. Also received the dual screens for free as well. Using the dual screen all the time can kill your battery within 4hrs. The only irritating thing is if you have it in landscape view, you can accidentally touch the corners of the screen and select whatever is in the corner where you touched. Other than that, it's all good.Quantumz0d - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
No mention of the ESS Quad DAC in the V60 no need to even test but just a mention of them would be good, just a simple one line mention it takes, LG upgraded the DAC chip to ESS9219 from 9218 which was in V30 to V50. And Android 11 destroys the DSD playback. And no mention of the LG's Audio recording modes available in the camera mode either it has HiFi options with Filters for recording in 192KHz with 24Bit in FLAC and Audio playback also has Filters from the DAC directly, same for Pro camera video modes which LG and Sony only offer as well.And vs OnePlus no other features mentioned at all, what about SD slot ?
Until Apple brings the Pro Video, I think no one even gives a shit about those. All shiny toy things and camera output, that's all matters I guess, every review same mainstream talk.
Quantumz0d - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
Color accuracy, no ones gives a shit about them tbh. Look at Samsung Ultra high saturated modes, people only use those. And 90Hz or 120Hz is not a pity at all, its a good option but at the expense of battery life with shitty non removable $1000 consumable piece is it worth ? Nope.SD card slot, Bootloader unlock, 3.5mm jack and stability of the OS, Software features - Camera modes those are the things which matters most so different sects of the audience.
brucethemoose - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
I wouldnt trade 120hz for the world, though Android could use some VRR love.The DAC/ADC is a huge plus for the V series though. I'd love to see that in other phones, even if its only over USB C analog.
s.yu - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
Sorry I've been on AMOLED Photo since I switched to Samsung, will be looking for something similar once I switch to some other brand from Samsung betraying the jack.mrbios - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
I agree with Quantumz0d, color accuracy isn't something that most people care about, especially when it comes to OLED screens. The Pixel 2 I believe it was, people were losing their shit when Google shipped those with a more accurate color profile, instead of one that "pops". Once they changed things to be ultra saturated, it was still worse than a Samsung AMOLOED panel, but people complained a lot less.And my mom, she had some cheaper Samsung smartphone, and she was complaining about how the photos she was taking looked like absolute crap. So, I got her a used OnePlus 3T for Christmas last year, since that was still better all around than what she was using. Once I transferred over the photos from her old phone, she was shocked at how amazing those photos suddenly looked! So, it really wasn't so much that the camera was bad on her old phone, it was that she was seeing those oversaturated colors on other OLED screens, and thought that the camera was the issue.
Only a couple of data points, but really, most people stick with the oversaturated colors on Samsung phones as well. So to most people, true color accuracy is meaningless, it's all about the colors that "pop" off the screen.
vanilla_gorilla - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
"The LG Velvet comes in at 599€. Whilst the phone its generally good for its price-point, the biggest issue I have with these premium devices is that 90% of the time you’re just better off buying last year’s flagship phones."I feel like as difficult it as it is to get updates for a phone, chopping a year off that period of supported software is pretty painful. I'm really not interested in trying to load some custom version of Android, I just want a phone that works.